Remember
by maggie.mitchell.7543
Summary: Lucy and Natsu admit their love for each other, but what happens when Lucy goes into a coma for a long time and forgets? Will she ever remember? This is a NaLu fanfic, there is Jerza and GaLe mentioned as well. Normal disclaimer applies.
1. Forget

**A/N**

**Hey, so this is Remember, I hope you enjoy it! **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Fairy Tail**

Natsu and Lucy sit on their guild's roof watching as the sun rises on the new day. Today Fairy Tail is attacking the most fearsome dark guild yet, even stronger than Oracion Seis. Umbra Ultricies, the dark guild, is not only a threat to Fairy Tail and Magnolia, but to the entire world. They have made a way to absorb shadows to cloak themselves in the darkest magic. Unlike how Jellal and Lyon tried to resurrect demons, these mages are trying to become demons themselves. Lucy has had feelings for Natsu for a while and worries that if she doesn't tell him now, she might never get the chance, so gathering up her courage she pecks him on the cheek. Natsu turns around surprised and then smiles his signature grin before stealing a real kiss from her. It is Lucy's turn to be shocked; she hadn't expected that Natsu would share her feelings.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time, Luce," he tells her smiling. Lucy smiles back happily. The sunlight makes her blond hair appear golden and her chocolate eyes flash.

"Me too, Natsu. We've had quite a while to get to know each other, huh." Lucy leans on Natsu's shoulder, the one with his Fairy Tail emblem on it.

"Yeah, remember when we first met?" Natsu asks her. Lucy nods and Natsu continues, "You got captured by that fake Salamander and I had to blow up his ship and then you came with Happy and me to Fairy Tail." Lucy laughs, this makes Natsu smile; he loves the sound of her laugh.

"And remember that time when I got captured by Phantom Lord and I jumped out of the sky prison? I'm so glad you were there to catch me; otherwise I would have been a Lucy-pancake!" Natsu's black eyes dance with fire as looks into Lucy's brown ones. She gulps, this is the time to say her feelings, "Natsu," Lucy pauses and takes his large, warm hand in her own, "I love you," she admits almost silently. Natsu with his Dragon Slayer hearing can hear her though.

He squeezes her hand, "I love you too, Luce." He gets that slightly maniacal look, "We'll beat Umbra Ultricies for sure! I'm all fired up and now I have even more reason to win!"

Lucy smiles again at his enthusiasms, but it's slightly sad, "Natsu," she pauses and he looks over at her, concerned at the change in tone, "I have a bad feeling about this attack, that's why I was able to pull my nerves together enough to tell you. In-incase…" Natsu stops her by placing a warm finger from his free hand to her lips.

The familiar glint of determination appears in his dark eyes as he speaks, "_Nothing_ is going to happen. Especially to the girl I _love_. Not only will you, me, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Master, Juvia and the rest of the guild be there, Lyon, Sherry, Jura, Jellal, Meredy, Ultear and those idiots from Blue Pegasus, Hibiki, Ren, Eve and Ichiya will join us! We ain't gonna lose!" Lucy's eyes shimmer with tears; she loves this boy so much. This crazy, hot headed, rash, irresponsible, sweet, strong, loyal boy. Lucy didn't want to lose anyone from her beloved guild, but definitely not Natsu.

She nods, "Of course, Natsu. But, just incase, you never know with these things." Natsu, knowing his point had gotten across nods and hugs her into his abnormally warm chest. He breathes in her scent; he's not planning on losing, but you can always be on the safe side. She smells like vanilla and lemons; he will never forget this scent, no matter what. Lucy nuzzles her face in the crook of his neck, enjoying his body's warmth. They sit there for a moment, memorizing everything they can about the other. Eventually, they break apart, the sun has risen and they must prepare for the attack. There are no words to be said so they silently make their way down from the roof to the main hall of the guild.

No one questions their sudden appearance together, they're all too agitated. Most are practicing their magic, just a bit more, trying out new abilities and cleaning up old ones. Gajeel and Laxus are in one corner brawling in between Gajeel's snacks of steel. Erza is trying on different armors while Gray practices his Ice Make magic, shirtless like usual. Cana is so intent on her cards that she hasn't even touched her drink. Elfman and Mira turn into their full body takeovers before quickly switching back so as not to exhaust their power.

Master speaks up, "Enough everyone, I am sure that you all with fight well and use your abilities in the best way you know how, we don't want you running out of magic energy before we've even began now do we!?" Everyone stops, but not knowing what to do anymore there's a few people pacing and moving around while some start up little conversations. Natsu and Lucy walk over to Happy, Carla, Wendy, Gray and Erza.

"Hey, guys. You ready for this?" Natsu asks, already psyched.

"I guess, ash-brain," Gray responds, somehow his shirt is back on.

"What'd you just call me pervert?" Natsu retorts, fists burning.

Gray gets into his fight position, "Ice MAKE…" he stops when Lucy lays a hand on Natsu's shoulder. He and Natsu fight consistently, but he thinks he's enough of a gentleman not to get Lucy involved...most of the time.

"Stop it you two! We have a serious battle coming up and we can't be fighting amongst ourselves!" Both aggressive boys nod, calling a truce for now. Just then, the door bangs open and in walks the mages from the other guilds. They walk up to Master and talk with him.

Master yells to the entire guild, "Now is the time! We'll go against Umbra Ultricies my children!" Everyone in the guild cheers, ready to fight. They all charge out of the doors, normally Natsu would be in front only surpassed by Jet, leaving everyone else behind, but this time he goes at Lucy's pace.

**-Line Break-**

All the mages are fighting their hardest, but these mages of Umbra Ultricies are incredibly powerful and play dirty. Gray is cornered by three of the dark mages and can't use offensive magic. Erza is busying herself destroying one particularly strong dark mage who is wrapped in shadows, his red eyes glowing. He sends out a shadow tendril that starts choking Erza until Cana destroys it using a lightning bolt from her cards. Erza sends a grateful glance her way while catching her breath before beginning a renewed attack in her Heaven's Armor. Lyon and Sherry are facing off with two dark mages and, Gajeel and Natsu are fighting the master of the guild. Lucy even has a mage to herself as Happy and Carla are helping Wendy and Natsu.

"Open Gate of the Lion!" Lucy calls, summoning Loke, her trusty lion spirit to battle. The dark mage smirks, and speaks into her mind _"A celestial mage, huh. I love destroying these ones, their shadows are so tasty!" _ Lucy shivers as the words vibrate in her head.

"We'll see about that!" Loke shouts back, having heard Lucy through their celestial connection. As Loke throws his punches at the mage, he zips away and appears behind Lucy, pushing her to the ground. Before Loke even realizes he's been outmaneuvered, the dark mage touches Lucy's forehead and starts muttering. Luckily, just in time, Gray tackles him having broken free of the mages that had cornered him. The spell is interrupted, but who knows what effect what he managed to do may have anyway. Gray quickly casts a magic spell on the dark mage that pierces through his torso before freezing him solid. Lucy's eyes flutter and she reaches out to Gray as he looks back at her.

"T-tell Natsu I'll always remember," she bids him as her eyes close. Panicked he checks to see if she's still breathing, she is so she's just unconscious, but why would she tell him that like they were her final words? Gray shrugs, she'll probably be fine, she was just being overdramatic like usual. He goes back to join the fight, leaving her in the hands of Wendy and Carla who aren't fighting, just taking care of the wounded. Markarov joins the battle and soon most of the dark guild is wiped out. There are a only few stragglers left. Jellal takes care of one and Gray another. Erza finishes off two and Master, Natsu and Gajeel beat the dark guild's master to a pulp. Both Natsu and Gajeel were scaly from the amount of power they used, eyes and hair resembling a wild animal's. After dragging their comrades out of the dark guild, Natsu has the honor of demolishing it. He gets that impish grin as his entire body is engulfed in flame and he punches the guild into rubble.

When Natsu's done he looks around puppy like for Lucy, when he can't find her among the healthy he starts to freak out. "WHERE'S LUCY!" he screams.

He starts running around frantically until stopped with a good punch in the jaw from Gray who isn't tending to anyone wounded. "She's over there you flame-breath idiot!" Natsu nods and doesn't even call Gray a name before rushing over to Lucy.

Natsu's worry level isn't relieved when he sees her laying there unconscious. "What'd you do to her, frostbite-boxers?!"

"I saved her from that creepy dark mage who was doing a spell on her, pinky!"

"Oh," is Nastu's only response to that. He leans down and whispers in Lucy's ear, "Hey, Luce, it's me, you can wake up now." He's disappointed when she doesn't even move, she looks dead, the only indication that she lives is the light pulse in her wrist.

Gray squats down next to Natsu, "I almost forgot to tell you, but before she went unconscious, she asked me to tell you that she would always remember, whatever that means."

"Thanks, Gray," Natsu replies quietly, staring at Lucy's face. She has a large gash on her cheek and loads of minor scratches everywhere. Her clothes are torn, but nothing more than usual is being revealed. Nastu kisses her on the lips and Gray's eyes widen.

"Whoa, dude! You can't take advantage of a girl like that!"

"I wasn't taking advantage; she wouldn't have minded, she told me she loves me this morning," Natsu replies calmly, an attribute that is never associated with him. Gray looks a little surprised, but nods and wanders off to check on others. Soon, everyone is patched up by Wendy, well everyone except Lucy who's exterior wounds are healed but is still unconscious. "WHY WON'T SHE WAKE UP?!" Natsu demands stomping around, eyes and fists burning.

Not knowing what else to do for the blond girl, Natsu scoops her up in his arms and carries her as everyone goes back to Fairy Tail. During a moment when he thought no one else was watching, Natsu allowed a few tears to slip from his eyes; Lucy had said she had a bad feeling and something bad had happened.

The trek back to Fairy Tail is long and Natsu is very tired when he arrives, but he can't rest yet. Natsu brings Lucy upstairs to the guild's infirmary rooms. He chooses one with similar décor to her house, a bed with pink comforters, a desk and a nice dresser. Natsu lays her gently in the bed and covers her with the blanket.

Placing his head in his hands he mumbles to her sleeping form, "I'll wait, Lucy. I'll remember and stay here until you come back to me. I know that you should be awake by now, but you're not. Don't worry me like this Lucy, wake up already! I-I feel like I may have to wait a long time. I'll wait for as long as I have to though, I'll take care of you. I'll be right here when you wake up." Happy flies in, lies down by Lucy and cries quietly, also sensing that she may be gone for a long time.

No one expected how long.

**A/N**

**And that's the first chapter! Please tell me what you think, I love anything I get. Please forgive me if I didn't portray the characters quite right and for not having a very long battle scene; I didn't really know what to do with it and it was supposed to be about Lucy getting hurt. **

**~Maggie**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

**Thank you to my eight followers and two favoriters! Also thank you to my reviewers, sky213 and crazyanimefreak15! At the end of this story, I'll dedicate it to all my followers/favoriters/reviewers. Oh and btw, I don't cuss so Natsu's language will be very different than in the show :P**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Fairy Tail**

Natsu sighs as he creates a warm flame in the palm of his hand that doesn't burn anything. In the past ten years he's grown much more powerful and has also learned to control his fire much better. He blows on the flame and it floats up to hover a few inches away from the ceiling of Lucy's room. Today is her twenty-seventh birthday; it's been about ten years since _that_. Natsu's just returned from a mission and came up to check on her. He's learned to continue with life, going on missions, eating and fighting with Gray, but it just hasn't been the same. He's just about to add another flame to the fifty-or-so he already has floating when Lucy takes a deep breath and her eyes pop open.

Natsu looks over at her excited. She sits up and he smiles widely before hugging her tightly. "Welcome back, Luce! You've been asleep for a while."

Lucy stares puzzled at the pink haired boy in front of her. His pink, spiky hair is jaw length, he has dark and yet happy eyes and is wearing a navy blue vest that has orange trim with white trousers and a white scale-like scarf. She looks up and sees all the little flames floating and her eyes widen. "W-who are you and where am I?"

Natsu's face fell. Why didn't she remember him? She said she'd always remember! "I'm Natsu. Don't you remember, Luce?" he asks her. Lucy shakes her head, sorry to disappoint the strange boy who seems that he'd been waiting for her a long time. Natsu looses his common sense and grabs Lucy by the shoulders, shaking her violently. "Why don't you remember? YOU PROMISED YOU'D REMEMBER! You have to remember, Luce!" Natsu yells as his eyes tear up. He hasn't cried since he was really little and Igneel left.

"I-I'm sorry, Natsu. I just don't remember. I know that I'm Lucy Heartfilia, I'm a celestial mage and I'm traveling to the guild Fairy Tail," Lucy tells him softly.

Calming down a little, he eases himself back into the chair he always keeps next to Lucy's bed. "I-it's ok, Luce. Yeah, you're Lucy, you're a celestial mage and you're at Fairy Tail. You've been here for ten years."

"Oh, what else am I supposed to remember?" Lucy questions Natsu.

"Well, I'll start with who I am and I'll fill you in as you re-meet more people, 'kay?" Lucy nods her affirmation and Natsu continues, "I'm Natsu Dragneel, the fire Dragon Slayer. I came here when I was little after being raised by the dragon Igneel. One of my best friends name is Happy and he is almost always with me. Happy is a blue Exceed. My other best friends are Gray, Erza, and you," Natsu pauses, thinking about what else he should tell her.

Lucy perks up slightly, "Gray?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I remember him." Natsu is taken aback, why would she remember Gray and not him? Hadn't she told him that she loved him that morning ten years ago? "He's an ice mage right? He has raven colored hair and eyes and likes to strip?" Lucy says and then looks at me.

"Um, yeah. Maybe you're regaining your memories, do you remember anything else?"

"Not about anyone but Gray. According to my memories he was raised by a woman named Ul and was trained with a mage named Lyon who is now part of the guild Lamia Scale. His family was killed by a demon who Ul sacrificed herself to destroy. His last name is Fullbuster and his Fairy Tail mark is on his right pectoral," she states as she opens her eyes.

"Interesting. Why you remember all that is unknown to me, but I'll call in the master."

"Ok."

Natsu lets a few more tears leak as he goes to find Erza. A little ways down the hall he pauses and punches the wall. It cracks and has a huge indent, but he doesn't care. White and orange fire dance along the tips of his hair as his rage is released. The vein in his hand that he punched the wall with is pulsing, his knuckles white and arm quivering. "I need to go on a quick quest after I get Erza so I can beat some people's butts," he mumbles to himself. He pulls it together enough once again, telling himself that he can be as violent as he wants on the job. Soon, Natsu finds Erza and he fills her in on what he learned; that Lucy lost all her memories except about herself and about Gray.

"Should we bring Gray to see Lucy? It may stir up other memories," Erza inquires of Natsu after thinking about what he had told her.

"No."

She gives him a look, "Jealous are we, Natsu?"

"No."

"Then why can't Gray come along, especially if it may help Lucy?"

"Just because."

"That's not a legitimate answer you love struck idiot! You don't have to hide it from me, Natsu. I know that you love her. How you saved her when you first met. How you asked her to be on your team right after she joined Fairy Tail. How you caught her when she jumped from that sky prison and then gave her your cloak after getting back from Edolas and it was raining. I think she loved you too, but now she doesn't remember any of that," Erza states.

Natsu gets a dark look and scowls menacingly, "Thanks for rubbing it in," he growls. "I sat with her every stinking change I got! I watched over her and loved her for ten years! And ya know what happens? She finally wakes up and only remembers Gray! Why would she remember Gray and not me?" At that moment Gray hears his name and comes over to check things out. Gray sees a fuming Natsu, he hasn't been this mad in ages, mostly just sad since the incident with Lucy.

"Pinky, what happened? Someone insult your dragon heritage or did some guy say something rude about Lucy?" Natsu can no longer control his temper and punches him in the face, throwing him back into the far wall.

"She woke up you stinking icy girl thief! She woke up and you know who she remembers? You!" Natsu yells a few more choice insults at Gray as he gets up, scratches all over his arms and chest.

"I didn't do anything you flame-brained moron! ICE MAKE HAMMER!" Gray yells and pounds his fists to create a huge hammer made of ice that flies at Natsu. Natsu jumps out of the way, his fists blazing as he melts the hammer. Erza requips, but neither man is paying attention to her.

"What! Did! You! Do! You! PERVERT!?" Natsu flings himself at Gray and sends a flaming punch or kick with every word. Gray doesn't have time to respond as he's dodging Natsu's attacks. Erza forces her way into the brawl and punches both of them in the head.

"Stop fighting. Lucy is waiting for us," she tells them and walks off in the direction of Lucy's room. While walking she requips into her regular armor. Gray and Natsu rub the huge, sore bumps on their heads. They stumble after Erza, a safe distance behind.

"Really though, I didn't do anything. I-"Gray is cut off as Natsu grabs him by the collar of the shirt that he's wearing now and lifts him off the ground.

"Don't gimme that, Gray!" Erza knows that the boys always fight when she's not looking and so she turns around when she hears Natsu start to argue again. He immediately drops Gray and looks innocent. "We weren't doing anything, I swear!" Natsu says, putting his hands up, surrendering.

"Hmph." She turns back and resumes walking.

Gray brushes off his shirt, "You didn't let me finish. I was going to say that I was the last person she saw before blacking out back then. Maybe that's why she remembers me. Don't worry; I'll help her remember you. I think she's cute, but I can tell you like her way more." Natsu nods, accepting this.

They arrive at Lucy's room; she's seated on her bed staring off in space. "Hey, Luce, we're here," Natsu tells her quietly. She jumps a little and looks at them. There's no spark of recognition when she sees Erza and this saddens the three of them even though they knew it was extremely unlikely she would remember.

Erza acts very professional and holds out her hand for Lucy to shake. Lucy takes her hand warily and shakes it. "I'm the master of Fairy Tail. My name is Erza Fernandes. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Lucy shakes her head and Erza sits down in the chair by her bed while Natsu and Gray stand. "H-hi, Gray. I'm Lucy. I don't know why I know you so please don't ask. Do you know why I know you?"

Erza waits for Gray to answer, "Um, I don't know for sure, Lucy, but I have a theory." He looks at Natsu and Erza, silently asking if he should tell her. Erza nods and Natsu shrugs; him finding Lucy unconscious and not waking up after that intense battle haunts his dreams anyway, so why not say it out loud? "We went to battle against this dark guild that performed untested and unlawful magic. One of them started casting a spell on you and I interfered with it. You told me something…important and then blacked out…for ten years. I was the last thing you saw and so I think that's why I'm the only person you remember other than your own heritage."

"Oh," is all Lucy thinks to say. She is curious to what she said to Gray before she blacked out, but since he didn't seem to want to tell her so she lets it slide.

Erza spoke up during the lull in Gray's thought, "So now you know what may be the cause of you only remembering Gray so may we continue?" Lucy nods, letting all the information sink in. The scarlet haired woman continued, "Do you remember anything at all? Search your mind."

Lucy shuts her eyes tightly and is quiet for a few minutes while the others wait patiently. "Sorry, but I really don't remember much. I know who I am and I know what Natsu informed me earlier about himself. Other than that the only new thing I found was that Gray looks good without a shirt," she blushes as she sates this. Gray blushes slightly as well and Natsu mentally adds that comment to the list of things he'll think as he punches the life out of some criminals.

Erza takes a deep breath, "Well, ok. We'll just have to hope that your memories come back, but until then welcome to Fairy Tail. I'm going to go and alert the rest of the guild to what's happened."

"I'll go too," Gray announces following her out. Natsu stays and observes Lucy. She looks like the same girl he loves. She smells like her too, but for some reason she not her. His dark eyes harden, he wants _his_ Lucy back.

"I-I don't know what I meant to you, Natsu. I-I'm sorry I can't remember!" Lucy cries and puts her face in her hands.

"You'd do well to not get romantic with Gray. He has an obsessive lover that he'll never go out with already. Juvia would've killed you if she saw you flirting with Gray. I'm going on a job if anyone asks," Natsu states coolly and walks out. Behind him Lucy sobs, she wants to remember. She wants to know what she meant to this man, what he meant to her. He's closed his heart off though; he believes he'll never get his Lucy back.

When Erza gave the news to the guild, everyone was shocked. No one paid attention to Natsu and Happy slipping out with a job request. Once the ruckus died down, Erza directed everyone to act as if Lucy is simply a new member of the guild. Everyone dispersed muttering to themselves. Erza retreated to the master's bedroom which is at the top of the guild. Her heart ached that Lucy didn't remember her and she couldn't even begin to comprehend Natsu's rage and pain. She knew for more than just the reasons she told Natsu that he loved Lucy. She had been awake that fateful morning and seen the two kiss as the sun rose. Lucy hadn't been an essential part of the guild, but everyone loved her anyway. Although, once she was no longer active, more and more people either forgot about her or tucked her memories away and continued with life as time went on.

Jellal came into the room and shut the door carefully behind him as to not disturb Erza. If you scare Erza, she'll requip in seconds and a hundred swords will be aimed at your throat. "Erza, it's me," he sighs. "I can't believe Lucy lost her memory. I remember when I lost mine and all I could remember was your name. Gradually it came back so there's hope."

"Yeah," Erza replies and walks over to him. Jellal holds her to his chest and kisses the top of her red hair. Erza sighs, "We should probably go back downstairs so the guild doesn't get trashed without supervision."

Jellal chuckles and runs a hand through his blue hair which then flops back over his forehead, "Ok, Erza, whatever you want." Erza requips into her everyday armor and they head downstairs.

Lucy decides that if she's been in this same room for ten years then she's had enough of it and anyway, she wants to explore Fairy Tail. She goes downstairs and looks around. A friendly looking blue haired girl sitting with a scary guy with a bunch of piercings and a black mane of hair wave her over. "Hey, I'm Levy, it's nice to meet you Lucy! Welcome to the guild!"

"Thanks, Levy. Did I know you before?" Lucy asks her. She looks a little unsure of what to say and the guy just grunts. Lucy notices he has red, slanted eyes, sharply pointed canines like Natsu and is chomping down on what looks like scrap metal. "It's ok if you don't want to answer; I understand this must be incredibly weird."

"Sorry, I just didn't know what to say and Master told us to treat you like a new member. I'll tell you whatever you'd like to know if you like," Levy says regaining her confident smile. Lucy nods, craving information. "I'm a script mage. This is Gajeel, he's my boyfriend and the only steel Dragon Slayer. Gajeel, say hello to Lucy!" Levy explains to Lucy and then slaps Gajeel on the arm playfully.

"Eh, fine shrimp. 'Ay, Lucy," Gajeel speaks through a mouthful of metal.

"Does he usually eat metal?" Lucy asks slightly disgusted.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it. Anything else you want to know?" Levy smiles. Lucy grins back; she knows she just made a good friend, even if she has interesting choices in men.

"Not really for now, I'm still trying to absorb what I've already learned. I'd like to talk to Natsu a little more because it seems he cared for me, but he said he'd be on a job so where would I go to find out how to follow him?"

"Just go talk to Mira, she the one behind the bar."

"Ok, thanks Levy-san!" Lucy gets up from the table and goes over to the bar. A few mages stare at her, the surprise evident in their faces as the girl who disappeared for ten years walks through the guild as if nothing happened. Of course, Lucy doesn't remember that anything happened. "Oh my gosh, you're Mirajane?" Lucy squeals as she approaches the white haired woman.

"Yep, it's nice to see-er, meet you, Lucy," Mira responds. She doesn't wear her bangs tied up anymore; they hang down over one of her blue eyes, but she still likes the same color palette.

Lucy smiles sweetly, "It's ok for you not to pretend like you haven't met me before. I want to know what I knew before so I'm gathering all the information I can. Speaking of which, I came over here because Levy-san told me you could tell me where Natsu went off to. I want to ask him more."

"Ok, thanks, Lucy. Yeah, he went on a job in a forest a ways away. It was a cheap job just wiping out some bandits so he must have been in a bad mood. Oh, he wouldn't be riding a train though because of his motion sickness." Mira shows Lucy a copy of the job request with the location listed.

"Thanks, Mirajane!" Lucy turns and runs off before Mira can tell her that it'd be best for her just to wait for Natsu to get back. Lucy charges out of the guild in the direction Natsu went as it starts to rain, determined to find her answers.

**A/N**

**Please review and/ or favorite and follow :)**

**~Maggie**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**

**Thank you for your favorites and follows! Also, thank you for your reviews, crazyanimefreak15, Melime14 and helpmewoolfy11. :) **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Fairy Tail**

It was almost dark and getting darker as Lucy trudged through the woods. As she was checking her keys for something to help her find somewhere to stay and keep warm during the night when she realized she had acquired a lot more keys. She had left home with only Taurus, Cancer, Aquarius, Crux, Horologium and Lyra, but now she has Nikora, Virgo, Sagittarius, Leo, Aries, Scorpio, Gemini and Capricorn as well.

"Gate of the Lion, I open thee!" Lucy declares and turns the key in the air opening the door to the celestial realm for Leo to come through. A man in a suit with spiky hair and wearing glasses appears.

"Hey, Lucy! Long time, no see!" he says happily.

"Hello, Leo. I'm assuming we have a contract. How did I get your key?"

He looks at her quizzically, "Yeah, we do. Remember, you saved me from disappearing and I gave you my key. And usually you call me Loke."

"Oh, sorry, Loke. I woke up and don't remember anything up to before I joined Fairy Tail."

Loke thinks for a bit before responding, "So I still have a chance with you then?" Lucy nods and blushes slightly. She does think he's a little attractive. "You bought Nikora when you first came to Magnolia, you named him Plue. You acquired Virgo on a job to burn a book and Aries, Scorpio and Gemini by defeating a powerful mage named Angel that was part of the dark guild Oracion Seis. Capricorn was possessed for a time, but after I defeated him, he returned to your side following the promise he made with your mother."

"Thanks, Loke. I'm trying to find Natsu, do you have any idea how I could locate him?" Lucy asks the spirit.

"It shouldn't be hard to find him; he's always destroying things with his fire if I remember right. I haven't been out since I opened the gate for myself after about a month of inactivity. I found Natsu watching over you and he informed me about what happened," Loke tells Lucy. At that moment, there's a firey explosion to their right. They turn and race off in that direction.

Lucy is about to run right up to Natsu when Loke puts his arm out and stops her. He tells her that it'd be better to let him finish up. Natsu's back is facing them and he is engulfed in orange flames, but through the flames they can make out the silhouettes of four people. The flames around Natsu retreat to his fists and feet and a blast of blue fire comes from one of the people. The person who threw the flames is shirtless and wearing ratty jeans. His hair is purple and hangs over his face to his chin. The man's flames tangle around Natsu, but then all swirl up like they're in a vortex and disappear.

Natsu puts his hands out to the sides, tilts his head back and laughs maniacally, "Now I'm all fired up, you thieving criminals!" He jumps toward them, still shouting, "You had the misfortune to meet the Salamander!" One's down from an iron fist of the fire dragon to the stomach. "Lucy woke up! But she's not Lucy!" Another one falls to a kick to the head. "She remembers Gray though and has the nerve to flirt with him!" The purple haired one collapses, burnt from a flaming elbow and talons of the fire dragon combo.

A little blue cat with a green satchel on it's back is flying around yelling, "Aye, Sir!"

The last bandit is backed up against a tree, trembling. His grey eyes are filled with fear at Natsu's display of power. Natsu's onyx eyes are burning, rage fueling his magic to make it even more powerful than usual. "She doesn't remember! I want the Lucy I know back!" Natsu screams and punches the tree on either side of the bandit's head. The man whimpers before Natsu puts him out of his fear with an uppercut to the jaw.

He turns toward Lucy and Loke, but doesn't notice them yet. His pupils are tiny and his veins are popping out of his head. He looks up to the sky and roars fire fifty feet into the sky, turning raindrops to steam. Natsu suddenly recognizes his fellow guild members and the fire in his eyes dies, leaving them looking like polished stones. "What're you doin' here?"

Loke speaks up, "Lucy was looking for you."

"Why?" Natsu grunts back.

This time Lucy answers, "Because you have answers."

"You could'ave asked someone else at the guild. Erza, Levy and _Gray_ know plenty."

"But I wanted to hear it from you, the man who cares for me."

"I don't care for you," Natsu shoots back, his tone as freezing as Gray's ice magic.

Lucy's taken aback. She can't believe that, especially after what he said while he was fighting the bandits. Although, the "fight" was awfully one sided, Natsu doesn't seem to have taken any damage and isn't tired at all. "I don't believe you." Natsu grunts and turns away.

Loke interrupts their spat, "It's night now and raining. Is there somewhere you were planning to stay?"

Natsu's eyes revert to the friendly, cutesy look they had when Lucy first woke up as he meets Loke's gaze. "Yeah, there's a cave. I guess she can hang out there 'till morning. This is only a favor for you though, Loke, my friend who I haven't seen in far too long," he replies and turns away once again, his vest and drapey-skirt-thing flapping in the wind. He holds up his hand and signals for them to follow him.

Soon, they arrive at the "cave" which isn't so much of a cave as it is a rocky overhang. Thankfully, the overhang provides shelter from the wind and rain. Natsu lights a fire in his palm and then has it hover near the ground. The fire provides heat and light and makes the three mages' shadows dance along the hard wall behind them as it flickers. The blue cat who the boys call "Happy" sits down next to Natsu, Lucy and Loke also take a seat near the fire.

"Why did you take such an easy job, Natsu?" Loke asks, chatting with Natsu as Lucy just listens.

"Had to blow off some steam."

"Anything interesting happen at the guild?" Loke is mostly driving the conversation, but at least Natsu is answering.

"Hmm…well, the usual. Fought some wars, beat some bad guy's butts. Oh, relationship stuff has changed a lot. Wendy's all grown up and the guys drool over her, but she's not interested. Um, Elfman and Evergreen got married, so did Erza and Jellal who cleared his criminal record and joined Fairy Tail about five years ago. Erza got selected as the new master of Fairy Tail. We've continued to grow and become more famous. What else…" Natsu pauses, thinking about what else happened, "We're not enemies of the Council anymore 'cause there isn't one. Oh yeah, I learned how to control my flames better and increase the power!" he finishes.

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah!"

"I'm huuunnngggryyy!" Happy complains.

"Me too, but we'll be fine for the night, Happy," Natsu answers. He seems like such a nice guy, but to Lucy he's closed off and border lining hostile. "Well, night, Happy. Night, Loke." Natsu moves a small distance from the fire and sprawls out on the ground, limbs spread wide. Immediately, he starts snoring. Happy curls up next to him and falls asleep just as quickly. Occasionally Happy mutters "Fish" in his sleep. Natsu is murmuring something as well, but neither Loke nor Lucy can tell what it is.

Lucy watches Natsu sleep for a while. "Hey, Loke?"she says in a low voice.

"Mmh?" His eyes focus and he looks back at her, having been lost in though.

"Why isn't Natsu acting like how the others are? Like, he's not being friendly or understanding or trying to help me learn about who I was."

"Hmm. I think Natsu was really hurt when you woke up and didn't remember him. And then you remembered Gray, who although they're friends they fight a lot already. This is his way of grieving that you aren't the same person he knew," Loke answers sagely.

"I _am_ though! I'm still Lucy, I'm still me," Lucy argues.

"But, you don't have the same memories or experiences you used to."

"We can make new memories if he just lets me."

"Maybe he's afraid to get hurt again, I don't know. I'm tired so I'm gonna sleep now, Lucy. 'Night." Loke stretches and makes himself as comfortable as possible on the ground and falls asleep. He could return to the spirit realm and sleep there, but he feels like he needs to watch over Natsu and Lucy in case things get too awkward. Lucy stares at the fire and listens to the pitter-patter of the rain trickling off the overhang and dripping into puddles near the entrance. She puts her chin on her knees and holds them close. Lucy shivers as a drip of water finds its way down the back of her neck. Natsu's fire slowly dwindles out and with it goes its light and warmth. Apparently it wasn't meant to last all night. She shivers again, her pink tank-top and black mini-skirt don't help her stay warm at all, plus they're soaked. Lucy wonders how Natsu stays warm, but then he's a fire mage so maybe he has inner fire or something.

Slowly, the downpour turns into a sprinkle and then stops altogether leaving a cool mist behind. Pale moonlight filters through the mist allowing Lucy to make out the shapes of her companions. None of the rage that marred his features is evident in sleep and Lucy thinks that Natsu looks kind of cute. She scoots closer to him, feeling strangely attracted to this rosy haired, fire breathing man. She lays down almost touching him and can feel the heat that radiates off his skin. Lucy's on her side, cushioning her head with her arm and with her back facing Natsu. She sighs, she's gonna be sore from this uncomfortable bed tomorrow. Just as Lucy's about to slip into sleep, she hears a groan from Natsu and feels an arm clench her around the waist. Natsu buries his face in her hair.

"Luuucy…" he murmurs. She can't move because Natsu is strong, even in deep sleep and she's warm now anyway so she lets herself sleep. Loke's eye openes slightly and he sees Natsu holding Lucy. He knows it wasn't a conscious choice, but it just shows he still has feelings for her, no matter how messed up they are. With a smirk on his face he also lets go of consciousness.

**-Line Break-**

"You lllliiiike her, Natsu!" Happy chants, rolling his tongue as he flies above Natsu.

"Huh?" He opens his eyes fully and pulls away, scrambling backwards, "AHHHHH!" He hears chuckling from the opposite wall where Loke slept.

"Well, ya gonna start a fire? We might be here for a bit, I believe Lucy's a heavy sleeper and she went to bed after me."

"Yeah." Natsu waves his hand and the same fire from the night before appears. While Lucy sleeps, Natsu and Happy go fishing and Loke stays back to guard her. Natsu and Happy come back with four large fish; Happy starts in right away with his, enjoying raw fish, but Natsu stabs the other three onto sticks and places them so they'll cook over the fire. Not long after Natsu and Happy returned, Lucy stretches and opens her hazel eyes slowly. Natsu is gone, or was he ever really there? She remembers now that while she was sleeping, sometimes images of the people she's now meeting would appear. There's no information though, just hazy images of faces.

Sun is shining through the branches of trees overhead and illuminating the cave although the fire is relit now as well. Loke is sitting cross-legged next to it while Natsu is squatting. His red Fairy Tail emblem is vibrant in the light of both the sun and fire. Happy flies down near Lucy's face and hovers there, "Natsu llliiiiikes you, Lucy!" he pronounces "Lucy" like Loo-she.

"No, I don't. Happy says that all the time, it doesn't mean anything," Natsu instantly counters.

"But I saw you h-" Happy is cut off with a dark glare from Natsu. "Sorry, Natsu."

"It's fine, just shut up." Natsu hands Loke a cooked fish and starts tearing into one himself, when Lucy doesn't do anything he asks her, "Ya gonna come'n get et, Luce-y?" through a mouthful of chewed up fish.

Loke stage whispers to him, "You're trying to hard to seem grumpy."

Lucy grabs her fish and begins eating it as well. It tastes good, like smoked trout or something. Loke's comment earned another death-glare from Natsu, "I'm stinking furious, I'm not trying you idiot," he grumps. Once everyone finishes their fish, Natsu puts out the fire and gets up. "I'm going back to the guild. You can follow me or stay here, I don't care," he says and walks away. Lucy and Loke hurriedly get up and speed-walk after him to catch up. At first, Loke is on one side of Natsu and Lucy is on the other, but Natsu pauses to let them pass him slightly before moving so that only Loke is on one side of him. They walk in silence and stop in front of Fairy Tail

"Bye, Natsu, I'll visit again soon, I've gotta get back to the spirit realm for something right now though," Loke tells Natsu and disappears into golden light. Lucy and Natsu stand awkwardly looking at each other.

He's about to leave when Lucy reaches out and grabs his arm, "Natsu, I want to be your friend. Why won't you let me?" He doesn't answer though, just turns away, shrugs off her hand and walks into the guild.

**A/N**

**Please review, favorite/ follow if you haven't already. :)**

**~Maggie**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

**Thank you for your reviews guys! I don't remember the last time I updated this story so I thought I'd do it today. I hope you like it :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail **

Lucy stands stunned by Natsu's obvious rejection of her friendship. She shakes her head and goes inside. Her shoulders, ribs, neck and knees hurt from walking around and then sleeping in a cave. Inside, Gray and Natsu are fighting; Erza comes downstairs and punches both of them in the gut to get them to stop.

She stands on a table to make herself even taller and to show that the master is speaking. "Umbra Ultricies' leader, Shydow has escaped from prison and is coming to attack our guild for revenge. Be prepared at any time," she announces. Natsu looks like he got stabbed in the chest at the news.

The guild starts shaking and a voice intrudes into everyone's minds, "_I will devour all of your shadows!" _a menacing laugh follows. The door blasts open and a man stands there. His long, ratty, black and blood red streaked hair covers his face and falls to mid torso. The man's chest is bare and a scar is visible in the stomach area. Worn, black trousers and bare, bloody feet finish his look. _"Bow at the feet of Shydow, Umbra Ultricies' leader and I may make your deaths slightly less painful. Beg for mercy, I will simply suck your soul and shadow out of you, it will be virtually painless."_

Lucy stumbles back, she recognizes this man. She doesn't know who he is or in what context she knows him, but she's sure that she's seen him before. Her eyes widen, she remembers this man touching her forehead, Gray in front of her and then nothing.

Natsu's fire flares, "Never! We are Fairy Tail!" he roars. Shydow puts his hand out and stops Natsu's charge, tendrils of shadow shoot out and wrap Natsu up leaving only his head showing. One covers his mouth so he can't speak.

"_I'll save that one for later, I'd like to start with someone I know more personally. Like maybe that celestial mage cowering in the corner." _There's only one celestial mage in Fairy Tail and her name is Lucy. Natsu's eyes widen and his pupils shrink to pinpoints. He struggles in his bonds and tries to burn them away.

"I won't let you hurt her," Erza states and steps forward.

"Neither will I," Jellal stands beside Erza. Next are Mirajane, Gray, Wendy, Fried, Gajeel and Levy.

"We won't either. She may not remember us, but she's still Lucy and part of our guild!" They declare in unison. Some of the newer guild members don't know Lucy at all, but they follow their leaders' actions. Lucy is paralyzed in fear, tears stream down her cheeks and drip off her chin. She thinks there's something hazy in the back of her mind similar to this, her guild protecting her.

"_So that's what happened when the Stripper interrupted my spell! It doesn't matter though; you'll all pay the price for warring against my guild!" _Everyone cringes as his sharp words shriek through their minds. He laughs and snaps his fingers, while everyone is open; he binds them in the same shadows as he did Natsu. "_The funny thing about you people is you never learn! I think I'll devour this one first and then each of you one by one and force the others to watch!" _He laughs.

Lucy stands, "No! You won't harm any of them. I may not remember them, but I know this is where I belong and that these people would protect anyone in the guild, including me, with their lives! I won't let you! Open, Gate of the Bull, Taurus!" A golden light flashes and a huge bull holding an ax appears.

"I'll do anything to protect your body, Miss Lucy!" Taurus shouts and hurls his ax at Shydow. His hair blasts away from his face; one of Shydow's eyes glows red and the other one turns completely black. A snout grows from his face, lips curled back to reveal sharp teeth sticking out in random directions. Curling horns swirl out of his head and his nails elongate into dagger sharp talons. Shydow swipes the ax out of the air and it turns into sparkling, black residue.

"_You're going to stand up to me, little one? Laughable!" _Unknown to everyone, the reason Lucy's memory was blocked and she was asleep for so long was because when Shydow's spell was interrupted, it increased her power immensely, to the point where she had to go into a coma to absorb all of it.

"Sorry, Miss Lucy, without my weapon, I can't get close to this guy," Taurus apologizes, his head bowed before disappearing into light.

"Open, Gate of the Horse, Sagittarius!" Once again, a light flashes and a creature appears. This time, it's a man wearing a horse suit. Sagittarius shoots round after round of arrows, but each time they're transformed into the same darkness that Taurus's ax was.

"I'm sorry, but it appears I cannot attack him-Moshimoshi," Sagittarius salutes and disappears.

"_Is this the best you've got, Celestial?" _He taunts.

"Urg, nothing's working! I guess I'll try Loke," Lucy murmurs. "Gate of the Lion, I open thee, Loke!"

Loke appears, "Let's get this over quickly; I was just about to hang out with Aires." Loke's fists glow with the power of Regulus. He shoots forward and punches, but only hits air.

"_Just as slow as you were ten years ago, lion." _Loke grits his teeth, pointed canines revealed. He darts toward Shydow again and throws a flurry of punches and kicks, his orange, mane-like hair standing out from the black shadows wrapping Shydow like the blazing sun would in the night sky. A few of Loke's punches land, but not even leaving a scratch where he hit him. Shydow smirks, a shadow coils through the claws on his right hand, poisoning them. He studies Loke's movements and when he can predict a pattern, he slices Loke's side. Loke falls to a knee, clutching his side, purple and black poison starts crawling out from the cut like vines.

"Uhg, what'd you do, fiend?" The poison spreads quickly to his chest and out to his limbs before creeping up and around his neck, forcing the Celestial Gate to close and Loke to evaporate into gold light.

"_I beat your strongest spirits, what will you do now?" _Lucy grits her teeth and takes a step forward. She's angry, angry that this man is so arrogant, angry that he thinks he can come in and take what he wants. Lucy's angry that he tried to hurt her new friends. Magical power builds up in her, making her body tingle as if it had all fallen asleep. On instinct, she spreads her arms wide and tips her head back. A cloak of sky blooms out behind her. It shows planets and suns, unnamed stars and the constellations of her celestial spirits. Lucy's eyes burn with white light. Everyone has stopped struggling and is watching Lucy, fascinated, even Natsu. She stares Shydow in his eyes, white ones meeting red and black. He falters, surprised by this sudden amount of power.

She hums a five note tune and raises her arms above her head. As Lucy repeats the tune, she increases in volume until the notes are echoing around the guild; the cloak of space becomes three dimensional, enveloping everyone. Her hair is being blown back by an invisible force as she focuses her energy and shoots it all toward Shydow. He lets loose a sound that is a cross between a human scream and a feral beast's howl before the celestial skyscape wraps around him. When it disappears, Shydow drops to his knees, quivering hands held up in front of his face. He's been bleached; his hair is white, his eyes which now have irises, a pale, white blue, and his skin almost translucent. The horns, snout and talons are gone.

"H-how d-did I loose?" he mumbles to himself not making a move to do anything other than sit on the floor and stare at his hands. The bindings on the other guild members have disappeared. Lucy notices this is the first time he's spoken aloud. No one senses magic power from him anymore where seconds before; it was only shadowed by Lucy's. Lucy lets a small smile dance across her lips before passing out on the floor.

This triggers the others who rush to her side. Mira and Erza lift her and carry her upstairs to the spare room that everyone knows as Lucy's. Levy follows to help tend to her friend. Jellal and Gray escort the now frail Shydow to where the magic police will come and arrest him. The others attend to fixing the guild where spells smashed it. Evergreen, Fried, Bickslow, and Elfman leave to town to buy new tables and alcohol since they were running low anyway. Natsu remains sitting on the floor.

Happy flies up to him, "Natsu, why are you sitting on the floor? Don't you wanna check on Lucy?"

Natsu shakes his head, "How did she become that powerful? She took out that psycho with _one_ of her _own_ attacks; it wasn't even one of her spirits!"

"I don-no, Natsu, but she took a lot of damage from having three Zodiac spirits out and then that huge attack. Let's check on her!" he says pulling on Natsu's arm.

"Fine, I'm gonna wait for Mira, Erza and Levy to be done with her though." Happy nods in agreement and lays on Natsu's head. When the three female mages come down, Natsu slips silently upstairs. He sits down in Lucy's room and watches her. She looks just like how she did ten years ago, well a little older, but otherwise the same. She has a few scratches on her face, her brown eyes closed in sleep. Her brows scrunch in a scowl and she tosses her head back and forth for a few seconds before relaxing again.

He gently touches her cheek with his hand and breathes in her scent, lemons and vanilla. Gray stands in the doorway and leans against the wall, arms crossed. He watches Natsu and remembers that he said Lucy had told him that she loved him the morning before she went into her coma. He walks up behind Natsu and places a hand on his shoulder. Natsu jumps slightly and turns around to face him, dropping his hand.

"What do you want, droopy eyes?"

"You should really give her more of a chance, Natsu. She may not remember, but the other guild members and I can tell that she wants to."

Natsu sighs and puts his face in his hands, "I don't even know who she is anymore. She acts the same and everything, but she's _different_. I still have feelings about her…I just don't know which ones."

"Maybe you should get to know her again. Remember how you invited her to be on your team right off the bat back then?"

"Yeh, I do. I remember everything; it's what kept me sane all those years." Gray isn't sure if _sane_ is the right word, but whatever.

"Well, how 'bout you guys go on a job, just the two of you," Gray suggests and smirks.

"Don't you know how awkward that'd be?"

Gray chuckles, "Dude, I had to spend the night with Erza alone on a job once, now _that_ was awkward."

"Oh, yeah, Juvia told me about that. She kept thinking that you guys were gonna do something."

"_What_? Me with Erza? No!" This makes Natsu chuckle lowly. "I do think you guys should though. Treat her like you don't know her, pretend you just met her," Gray advises.

"I knew her for almost a year, Gray, I can't forget that." Gray shrugs. "Hey, wanna try something?"

"Do what you want then. Sure."

"I'm going to make a bunch of non-destructive flames and then you freeze 'em."

"Ok." The two mages take turns quietly experimenting. Natsu makes the same flames he used for the fire in the cave except on a much smaller scale. Gray freezes the space around them, but leaves a small hole in the top to the flame can still receive oxygen. Natsu makes the flames float creating an interesting glow in the room as the firelight reflects out of the ice. He spaces out for a moment and loses concentration; one of the frozen flames drops and falls on Lucy.

Her eyes open and she sees the boys in her room.

**A/N**

**Please review, favorite and/or follow if you haven't already. :)**

**~Maggie.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

**Thank you if you reviewed or followed on the last chapter :) I decided to update tonight since I updated my other (and not Fairy Tail) story. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail**

Natsu's eyes widen and he dashes out of the room, even though he was the first person Lucy saw when she woke up, he doesn't want to be caught in her room again. This leaves an unfortunate Gray to face Lucy's wrath. "Don't strip in my room you pervert!" she screams at him.

Gray looks down at himself, "What the heck?" he mutters. He glances around the room; his clothes aren't on the floor so he responds smart-alecky, "I didn't strip in your room, I was already like this when I came in." He smirks.

"Well don't go standing around in my room in only your boxers, Gray!" she jumps out of bed. Luckily, the women who took care of her didn't change her into pajamas or anything more revealing then her everyday outfits. "Lucy kick!" Lucy shouts and kicks Gray in the face. He flies across the room from the impact. Natsu comes back in, curious to what made the crashing sound. He snickers; Gray just got his butt kicked by Lucy who is still weak from her battle.

Suddenly, Lucy grabs her head as pain shoots through it. One of the hazy images is pulsing in her mind trying to crystallize into something recognizable. She sits down on her bed, still gripping her head tightly. "Lucy, what's wrong?" Natsu asks as he goes over to her.

"Like you care, you've been denying it since I woke up, idiot," she grimaces. The image which she now recognizes as a memory is pushing its way back from being locked up. She can make out the shapes of herself and Gray in a room decorated similarly to this one.

"Lucy, does your head hurt?" Happy questions from Natsu's shoulder.

"Yeah," she grunts back. She can see the figures talking now. Sound slowly comes back, it's almost the same conversation she just had with Gray. She remembers that scene fully now, she reopens her eyes and removes her hands from her head. The pain is gone. Gray stands up and rubs his side where there's an old scar.

"What was all that about, Lucy?" Gray asks her. They all look at Lucy, waiting for an answer.

"Um, I remembered something. This kinda happened yesterday also except the memory didn't come back in as much detail so I think that's why it didn't hurt. I think regaining my memory is linked to similar scenes and strong emotions or senses," she replies slowly.

"Oh, that's interesting," Natsu says trying not to seem as excited as he really is.

"Now we have the key to getting your memory back!" Gray smirks; the two boys fist bump. Gray gives Natsu a look saying, "Dude, ask her to go on a job with you." Natsu rolls his eyes and whispers something in Happy's ear. Happy smiles, he can't wait to go on a real job with Lucy again.

"Lucy?" he inquires. She nods, acknowledging Happy and encouraging him to continue. "Could you come on a job with us pweeeeeease?"

She smiles, "Of course, Happy! What job do you want to do?" Happy's eyes light up and he zooms out of the room arriving back quickly with a sheet of paper. Lucy looks at the paper, "But this is an S Class job, Happy. I can't go on one of these without an S Class mage."

Natsu speaks up, "I'm an S Class now; you can go if I do." He puts his hands behind his head.

"I didn't think you'd want to come seeing as you have obvious dislike of me," Lucy retorts.

Natsu thinks of a quick excuse, "It's for the cat. Anyway, meet us outside the guild when you're ready. Oh yeah, we'll be swimming."

"Hmph, no way; we're taking a boat. It's the fastest way," Lucy decides, crossing her arms over her chest. Natsu ignores her and walks out. Lucy quickly does a check of her keys, her whip and grabs some extra clothes before following Natsu and Happy. The three of them walk together in an awkward silence in the direction of the harbor. "So Natsu, do you have a girlfriend?" Lucy asks.

Natsu looks at her, "_why would she ask that question?"_ he thinks and shrugs. Lucy glances at him, not so ready to give up on learning something about this guy who she's doing a job with. They might have to stay out on the island they're going to for days with only each other and Happy for company.

"I'll take that as a no. So why don't you have a girlfriend?"

Natsu grunts, his Lucy was pretty stubborn too, "Had one for less than twenty four hours once. She had an accident and I haven't been interested in anyone since."

"What was her name? What was her accident?"

"It's none of your beeswax." Natsu knew that going on a job alone with Lucy would be a bad idea. _Why_ did he take Gray's advice?

"I'm sure your other guild members know; why can't I?" Natsu groans in response to Lucy's question. "Tell me, Natsu!"

"Look, I ain't gonna!" He stops in the road and says in a loud tone.

"Do you want me to not know anything about myself forever? What if this information helps me remember something?!"

"If you can't remember it, I don't want to fill you in on your own first short-term relationship!" Natsu shouts before realizing what he's said.

"I-it was me?" Natsu's eyes widen, he just shrugs and resumes walking. After that, the two mages and Exceed stay quiet until arriving at the harbor. They look around everywhere, but can't find a boat that'll take them to the unnamed island that their job is on. There's some dark mage causing trouble on it and the person who posted the request is willing to pay 2,000,000 J to have them removed from their private property.

Finally, they're signaled over by this guy in a ratty cloak. A sharp pain shoots through Lucy's skull, but it's not as severe as last time. They get into the boat and start moving toward the island.

"Natsu, I remembered something else." He looks up from the floor of the boat, his cheeks bloated and blue as he tries to keep from puking. Lucy continues, "It was about how you took me on an S Class quest before you became S Class. We went to Galuna Island and helped that town of demons who thought they were cursed people. We fought Lyon, Sherry, that eyebrows guy and the dog guy. We thought the demon Deliora was going to be resurrected, but it turned out Ul killed it."

Natsu climbs to the side of the boat and barfs his guts out over the side. "Yeah-ugh-that's right," he answers before puking again. The rest of the ride Lucy tries to bring back more memories while Natsu just tries to survive. Happy takes up chatting with the man who's giving them a ride. All Lucy catches from the conversation is that they talking about fish.

Soon they get to the island. Natsu, Happy and Lucy disembark before the boat turns around and leaves them there. Natsu lays sprawled on the ground for a couple minutes before springing up, good as new. Natsu smells something strange, the only word he can think to describe it as is serpenty.

"I'm going this way first!" he calls and races off leaving a dust cloud.

"Aye, sir!" Happy says happily and speedily follows him. Lucy is left alone on the beach of the strange island with a dark mage somewhere on it. She sighs and heads off in the general direction she thinks Natsu and Happy went.

**-Line Break-**

Natsu runs into a clearing. The smell of serpent is extremely strong here. He glances around; out of the shadows a woman appears. She has short cropped, purple, spiky hair. The woman is wearing a tight and revealing purple and black corset. Her black skirt is about mid-thigh in front and slants down until it touches the ground in back; she's wearing knee-high black boots as well.

She smiles revealing fangs, "Dragon Slayer, so you'll be the one to face me!" she calls from across the clearing.

Natsu's hands curl into fists and blaze to life, "That's right, and I ain't gonna loose!" The woman's smile doesn't disappear as dark flames slither around and up her legs. He jumps forward, "Ha, I can't be beat by fire!" Her dead looking eyes take on an eerie glow. He's just about to punch her when a wall of her dark fire comes up in front of him, blocking his way.

He smirks and sucks in, inhaling the flames. He can eat them, but he chokes slightly. "I don't think it'd be good for your health, little boy, if you continue to eat my flames. You see, you've never come up against anything like my magic." One of the slithering flames which now resembles a snake flies off her arms, fangs exposed, posed to bite Natsu. He breathes in and eats it.

"I've eaten Etherion, lightning and a God Slayer's fire, I'm sure I'll be fine, but thanks for your concern! Oh, and thanks for the meal, now I'm all fired up! Roar of the Fire Dragon!" he shouts back before blowing fire at the woman. She easily dodges and sends a wave of her flames at him which he eats. "Gosh, these are some weird tasting flames! Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" he combines the flames from his left and right hands and sends a ball of fire toward the woman.

She dashes forward and sets alight the grass around Natsu. He eats these as well, "Hey, why do you keep making flames that I can easily disperse of?" he asks. A weird feeling starts in the base of his stomach; it's kind of tingly and at the same time aches.

She smirks, "Oh, you're just _so _much more powerful than me and I'm trying different techniques." Natsu shrugs and resumes attacking her. He lands a kick to her side making her stumble. Once again, her creepy fanged smile appears and flaming wings grow from her back and lift her into the sky. The wings aren't fairy, angel or demon wings, they almost resemble Igneel's. Natsu follows her into the air using flames on his feet to fly. Happy is also helping and shouting "Aye, sir" repeatedly.

"Wings of the Fire Dragon!" he roars and smashes his flaming arms onto where her head should be, but is deflected by her burning arm. "This is taking longer than I expected!" The woman nods and sends flaming snakes that he eats. The feeling he's getting has gotten stronger and is creeping into his chest.

Suddenly, his feet sputter out and Happy is only carrying him now. He tries to summon flames again, but can't. Natsu feels like he isn't out of magic power, but for some reason he can't use it. Two more snakes come at him, he sucks one in on time, but the other hits Happy, making him drop Natsu and fly off somewhere to nurse his wounds. Natsu crashes to the ground. He's covered in scratches now from the fall. His breathes are raspy as he stands up. The female mage lands gently next to him and her wings disappear.

She traces his face with her long, black fingernails, "It's too late, boy. You won't be any more powerful that way though, possibly less because you won't know how to control yourself." She snaps and a column of fiery, winged snakes swirl around Natsu. He sucks them in and stumbles. The woman smirks, ruffles his pink hair and walks off into the woods. Natsu tries to stand up and follow her, but instead finds himself kneeling on the ground, panting.

He clutches his throat, it's on fire. Every part of him aches and tingles. He screams as fire trickles out of his mouth and drips onto the ground setting it ablaze. The flames are his, the regular red and orange, but there's a faint scent in them left behind by the woman.

He lets loose another agonized scream, "Ahhhhhhhrrrrg!"

**-Line Break-**

Lucy wipes sweat off her forehead. She's been stumbling through the woods for a while, the undergrowth is thick and she can't find Natsu or Happy. She hears a loud thump and starts running in that direction. Lucy has strayed far off course while searching for her friends and although is now running full tilt despite the sharp branches and plants she hasn't arrived yet.

A bush moves nearby her and she stops. A blue cat walks out with tears in its eyes. "Happy, where have you been?" Lucy asks worried that he's not with Natsu and that he's crying.

"Natsu got in a battle. I think he might be hurt!" Happy sobs.

Lucy crouches down to Happy's level, "Where is he, Happy?" Happy is about to answer when they hear a scream. They look at each other and race toward where they heard it. Soon after, they hear the second scream that sounds like he's in more pain then the last did.

"Natsu! Natsu! Natsu where are you!" The two scream as they continue running. "Natsu, we're coming for you!"

**Please review, favorite and/or follow if you haven't already :) I really have a lot of fun writing fighting scenes :D**

**~Maggie**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**

**You guys made me happy with your reviews and follows so here's another chapter! :D I know Natsu's been acting like a jerk…I'll have him clean up his act soon. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

Lucy and Happy finally found their way to the clearing. There was a crater and scorch marks on the ground, a clear sign that there had been a battle here. "Natsu! Where are you?" Lucy calls out cupping her hands around her mouth. There's a shrieking noise from a ways away and a dragon rises up out of the forest. It flies to the clearing and hovers above it staring at Lucy and Happy.

"It's a dragon, Happy! What do we do?" Lucy whispers fearfully.

Happy shrugs unhelpfully and comments, "Run?" Lucy nods and they back up slowly before turning around and starting to run. The dragon is much faster than them; it swoops down and grabs them in its front clawed feet. They're carried up a mountain and into a tall cave far off the ground. The dragon sets them down on the hard grown.

Lucy immediately scoots far away from the dragon and pulls out one of her celestial keys. "Gate of the Goat I open thee, Capricorn!" she chants and the goat-man appears. He is covered in white fur, and has horns and hooves. Capricorn wears sunglasses over his eyes and a sharp looking, two tailed butler's outfit. "Do something to save us from the dragon!" she orders him. Capricorn moves to attack and Lucy lets power accumulate in her hands. Stars swirl in each palm ready to be used. She pulls back about to release and simultaneously attack with Capricorn when Happy flies in front of them.

"Wait! Lucy, look closer at the dragon!" Happy instructs. Lucy does, it's strange; the dragon isn't making any move to harm them. It has onyx eyes and sharply pointed pink spikes running down its spine. Its scales are blood red, but there's a white strip circling its neck. The dragon turns revealing the darker red Fairy Tail mark on its right shoulder.

Lucy gasps, "N-Natsu?" It bobs its head and shrieks. Lucy, Happy and Capricorn cover their ears until he stops.

"It appears my services aren't required here, miss," Capricorn says and bows before disappearing. Lucy doesn't know what to do so she sits down and stares at Natsu thinking. Happy flies up to him and sits down on his snout making Natsu go cross-eyed to look at him. He shrieks again and thumps his tail.

"Stop doing that, Natsu! I know you're trying to communicate, but that just hurts our ears!" Lucy exclaims. Natsu snorts steam, but stops. "Hmm…Do you have certain sounds you make for words?" Natsu does as close to a shrug as possible for a dragon. He doesn't know, for the past hour he's just been panicking. He can't be a Dragon Slayer if he's a dragon! "Try saying my name slowly, ok?" Natsu nods.

_Lucy. _His eyes light up. _That worked! When I think through what I'm saying you can understand me! Before I was kinda freaked out and was just screaming. _He grins and so does Lucy.

"Now, how do we turn you back?"

Natsu shrugs again. _The dark mage did this to me. She tricked me into eating her serpent fire. I don't know how, but it turned me into this. What if we defeat her first and if that doesn't work we can go back to Magnolia for help?_

"Ok, that sounds like a good idea. If she beat you though we should fight her together?"

Natsu nods, _But how, Lucy? I don't know what it's like to fight as a dragon and we gotta repay that fiend a hundred times over for this!_

"Everyone at the guild knows that an S Class job can take a while so we just stay here and get you used to it so you can help me fight," Lucy replies.

_Ok. _Natsu walks to the entrance and looks out over the vast forest. In the distance he sees a flare of the dark fire. He swings his tail around, sweeping Lucy out of the cave. She falls, screaming.

_-_**Flashback-**

_She's in a dark room. A tall, slim man stands before her. He is wearing a purple hat, cape and red pants as well as what looks like dark eyeliner and lipstick. Bat wings are on his back and his redish-black hair hangs out from under the hat. He has a thin, droopy mustache. He's telling her that he and his guild, Phantom, attacked Fairy Tail because her father paid them to._

_She kicks him in the groin and runs to the door which is wide open only to find that it opens onto a edge far off the ground. She stops at the edge and looks down into the clouds below. The man behind her is crawling toward her with an evil gleam in his eyes. She feels like Natsu will be there for her; she jumps. After a free-fall, she's caught by Natsu. _

** -End Flashback-**

Lucy lands in a large, clawed red hand. Memories filling in the gaps around the memory she had while falling, spill through the hole. The hole closes up leaving the wall in her mind more fragile than before. It seems that the more she remembers things, the less whatever is holding her memories back can control them. _Hey, Lucy, you ok? _Natsu smirks; he knows this situation is similar to one in the past.

She nods as Natsu carries her back up to the cave. "Yeah, I remembered something more."

_Oh? _

"I remembered the whole Phantom Lord ordeal. Thanks for catching me," she says.

'_Course. _

"Want to experiment with your new body? We could go to the beach so you don't destroy anything or roast Happy and me."

Natsu shakes his head, _Nah, it's gettin' dark and I'm tired. It was painful becoming this. Everything got bigger, _hot _fire roared in my stomach and lungs and my skin hardened and sectioned off into scales. _Not _fun._

"Ok. That's terrible! I didn't realize it hurt so much." Lucy leans up against Natsu following Happy's example who is laying on Natsu's snout. He doesn't turn her into ashes or roar so she thinks he's ok with it. Soon, listening to the steady thump of Natsu's heart, she dozes off. The dragon stays awake watching the girl and cat. When he is sure both are asleep, he curls his tail around Lucy. He doesn't know why he tries to only show affection to her while she sleeps. It's really creepy when you think about it. Maybe it's just because he can feel like this Lucy is still _Lucy_. Natsu shakes his head, he knows they're the same person, but his mind is struggling against the idea. Finally, he lowers his head and closes his eyes.

**-Line Break-**

Lucy and Happy are shaken awake as a loud gurgling noise echoes around their stone home. "What is that?" Lucy asks to anyone who's listening. She looks at Happy who just shrugs. The noise comes again, this time it seems to be coming from Natsu. "Natsu! Natsu wake up!"

_Uh? _He blearily looks down at his companions. He yawns, long tongue sticking out.

"What's that noise?" The wait before once again it sounds.

He chuckles, _I'm hungry. Hop on. _Natsu lowers himself so Lucy can climb onto his neck. She looks hesitant and pauses for a moment before getting on. She gets situated on his neck, gripping one of his pink spines. _Ready, Lucy? _

"Yup!" Natsu goes to the edge of the cave and hops off, spreading his huge orange wings. "You know how to do this?"

_Nope, but I think my instincts will due. _He sniffs the air, turns and flies off. Natsu's powerful wings beat rhythmically making the air around him throb with the sound. Lucy stays silent; she doesn't think Natsu could hear her anyway over his own breathing, flying and occasional roar. She takes in the surroundings; there's the mountains where they're currently living and everything else is covered by dense forest that only relents at the beach line. Wind rushes into her face and she feels herself plummeting. She's still holding onto Natsu's spine though so she's not falling. Lucy feels dizzy, like she's spinning and realizes that Natsu found something and is going in for the kill. There's a plop and all movement is ceased. Lucy slips off Natsu, landing on the ground skillfully despite the remainder of her dizziness.

She's about to praise Natsu for his work when she hears a tearing noise, what she finds surprises her, Natsu has dug into the dead hog. His face is spattered with blood as is the ground. She moves toward the kill to examine it, but Natsu bears his bloodied fangs and wards her off. Lucy and Happy just stand in shock until Natsu looks up as if finally sensing their presence. _What? You look like you just saw something incredibly gruesome! _Natsu chuckles.

"Um, Natsu, I think you let your dragon instincts take over too much. You just devoured three-fourths of a pig the size of a small house."

_I did? _He spots the ground and takes a step back. _Oh, I did, didn't I? Here, I'll cook the rest for you guys. Sorry, 'bout that… _Natsu trails off as he breathes a flame over the carcass. Lucy and Happy take pieces of the cooked meat and try it. Before long, both of them are eating happily. It tastes like normal ham, just jumbo sized. Natsu sits on his haunches watching them. Once they're finished he plods over to them and bends down. _Let's go to the beach to train._

"Ok." Lucy climbs onto Natsu in the same position as before. Happy sits in front of her. "What was that before?"

_I guess I was really hungry and the dragon took over. Now that I think about it, I wish that I had cooked it for myself as well. _Lucy smiles and pats his side. He takes off into the sky heading in the direction of the closest beach. Wind blows back the girl's hair and turns her cheeks red. Her pretty brown eyes sparkle with the excitement of riding a dragon. She spots a flash of dark flame in the forest, but ignores it knowing that now's not the time to fight the dark mage. They land on the beach. _So what do you think I should do?_

"See if your attacks still work?" Lucy suggests while Happy plays in the crystalline water. Natsu nods and his whole body bursts into flame. She watches as Natsu works through his attacks centering the flames at separate locations, the horn on his nose, his wings, his clawed feet and then breathing out a blast of fire.

_It still works! I also found a new one, Flaming Tail of the Fire Dragon!_

"Good job, Natsu!" He smiles. "Now let's try some combo attacks!" They spend the rest of the daylight practicing, Lucy with her spirits and celestial magic and Natsu with his fire dragon abilities. Occasionally, Happy helps by carrying Lucy when Natsu is in the middle of something, but he contents himself the rest of the time with throwing snide remarks and laughing at the two mages. Natsu and Happy left at one point to hunt down another giant pig, this one much smaller, only the size of a couch, which they brought back for lunch. Natsu was fully in control this time though, cooking the meat before eating and even leaving enough that the three could eat the leftovers for dinner. Lucy sighs and leans up against Natsu's warm flank. Her blonde hair is damp with sweat and she's breathing heavily. "I think that went well."

Natsu does that strange dragon chuckle. _Me too. I can't wait to kick that idiot's butt! We ain't gonna lose! _This makes Lucy giggle.

"I'm going to bathe," she declares. "Do you know where there's fresh water?"

_Yup. I'll bring you there. _Lucy and Happy climb onto Natsu. They fly for a little while before lighting down next to a river, knocking down some trees in the process.

"Thanks, Natsu."

'_Welcome. _She walks toward the river, takes off her boots and shoes and tests the water with her toes. It's cold, but not bad. Besides, she'll just warm up with Natsu after. Lucy wades in up to her knees; this is the furthest she can go without removing any more clothing. She's about to when she remembers the two boys she left on the bank.

"Go away!" she yells at them waving her hand to shoo them away. Appearing slightly disappointed, Natsu turns around and ambles into the nearby woods. Feeling more comfortable, Lucy removes the rest of her clothing, wading in deep so nothing is showing. The river is very deep, but thankfully there isn't a strong current. She takes the ribbon out of her hair and ties it around her wrist so she can wash her hair. Lucy starts scrubbing herself down with her hands and some of the soft silt from the ground. Natsu doesn't go far when Lucy shoos him away. As soon as she resumes cleaning herself, Natsu turns around and spies on her. Nothing more than usual is showing, but Natsu enjoys watching her anyway. Lucy's wet hair framing her face, the serious look in her eyes as she scrubs her arms and the curve of her bare shoulders.

Natsu can tell she's about to get out when Happy takes his attention, "Hey, Natsu, is it fun to be a dragon?" Natsu was actually really scared at first, but there's no way he's going to admit that.

_Heck yeah! _

"I wonder what it'd feel like if _I _were a dragon…" Happy ponders; a paw at his chin, eyes focused on something distant. By the time Natsu looks back, Lucy is fully clothed and coming in his direction. He makes it look like he just got back, coming out of the trees.

_Hey, Lucy, ready to go back to the cave? _She nods and climbs on. The fly back is quick and they settle down in the same places as last night, Happy on Natsu's snout and Lucy leaning against Natsu's side.

"Does Gray like me, Natsu?" Lucy questions; breaking the quiet of their Exceed friend's gentle snores. He thinks back to his and Gray's conversation when Lucy first woke up. How he'd said he thought she was cute, but that he'd let Natsu have her. The thinks about all the men he's seen gawking over Lucy despite Happy complaining that she wasn't pretty and that she was heavy. Natsu ponders all of this and thinks of the safest answer he could.

_Lots of men find you attractive, Lucy. _He replies.

"You included?" The look on her face is so innocent, usually he's the naive one, but if she can't see that then it seems they've switched places.

Natsu kind of chokes, _Um, well…mmmhrm mmrmble mur, _hemutters.

"What? I didn't get that last part. Could you repeat yourself?"

The dragon squirms uncomfortably, _I said me included… _Lucy blushes, usually she's really vain about her beauty, but from Natsu, somehow it's different. _My turn for a question; how did you get all that power, Lucy?_

The girl cocks her head to the side, "What do you mean?"

_You didn't used to be able to make stars in your hands or that attack you used on that guy who attacked the guild. How did you get that?_

"I-I don't know. Maybe I can ask Crux. Open, gate of the cross!" A silver cross with a white mustache appears. "I gained power after being asleep for ten years, do you know how this happened?" she asks him. The cross closes his eyes and appears to have fallen asleep.

Suddenly, his snot bubble pops and his eyes open. "Miss, Lucy, I have found that when Gray interrupted the dark mage's spell, it highly increased your power granting you new abilities. It came at such a rush though that you went into a coma and your memory was suppressed. It should eventually return entirely if it hasn't started to already. I hope I was helpful," Crux informs them and then actually falls asleep. Lucy closes his gate.

"Wow. That's cool."

_Yeah._

"'Night, Natsu."

_G'night, Lucy. _Lucy hugs herself and her breathing slows into the ones indicating that she's sleeping. Finally, something in Natsu's mind snaps, this Lucy _is _the same as his Lucy. Her loudness, her vanity, even her fighting style, the important parts of her personality are the same. She's still caring about her spirits and her guild. He has to help her remember. He decides that he'll open himself to this girl again. Natsu closes his reptilian eyes; glad that even under unfortunate circumstances he gets to be alone with Lucy on this job.

**A/N**

**Please favorite, follow and/or review if you haven't already! :) If anyone wants to be my Beta reader, please PM me. I'd like someone to look over my writing before I post it.**

**~Maggie**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

**Thank you if you reviewed, favorited or followed. Here's the next chapter, Natsu's opening up again. :) I hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail**

For a week, the girl, dragon, and Exceed trained every day on the beach. Natsu became accustomed to his new form and abilities that came with it. Lucy learned more about her new celestial powers and Happy "trained" by distracting them. The celestial mage also collected more memory fragments during that time.

Lucy jumps down off Natsu's back and rolls in the soft sand. Her blond hair is pulled back in pigtails and her blue shirt that at the beginning covered down to her stomach only goes down to below her large chest. She had to tear it for hair ties, to bind a scratch Happy got on a rock one day and to use strips to protect her hands and legs from Natsu's hard scales. "I have a question before we fight her, Natsu," she started.

_What is it, Luce? _He had started calling her by his nickname again. He tilts his head to the side, looking at her with puppy eyes that look kinda odd in a dragon's face.

"Why have you been being so nice to me? Before you were all sullen and hostile," Lucy replies while stretching.

"Aye!" Happy chimes in.

_In the past week I've realized how nice you can be despite your weirdness. You're also not bad of a training partner so I decided to be your friend…again. _Natsu says.

"Ok, that's cool. It's not that I don't like it, I was just curious," Lucy replies and turns around to face the forest. "So, do you smell her?"

_Yes, she's close and getting closer. Do ya think she only let us train because she thought it would be more fun for her? I mean, she seemed pretty smart and that she wouldn't let her enemies get away with something like this._

"That's insightful, Natsu, but it's too late now so we gotta be prepared." Lucy gets into her battle stance, watching the forest like a hawk.

_Even in turning me into a dragon, she was playing with me._

"Well, we're gonna make her pay, right?"

_Here she comes! _Natsu flapped his wings and blew fire. Happy landed on Natsu's back, where he would be safely away from danger. _I'm all fired up! _The dark mage walks out onto the beach leisurely.

She smiles, "Oh, so now there's two of you?" The question is really more of a statement.

Lucy's fists clench, "Who are you and what magic do you use?"

The woman tutts, "So un-lady like! I would expect more from a Heartifillia. If you must know, my name is Ae. And as for what magic I use, it's called Black Snake's Flames!" She twirls her hand and five huge, flaming snakes appear. Their black, polished stone eyes stare coldly at the three mages. "Come and get me," the snakes hiss along with Ae. Natsu growls deep in his throat, he does _not _like this lady. His tail lights up and stars orbit Lucy's fists. Lucy takes out one with her own power. Loke, who she summoned, another and Natsu swings his tail through two making them disappear. Ae jumps into the sky, her dark fire wings holding her up. She smiles. Lucy grimaces and jumps onto Natsu, gripping a pink spike while he takes off. The powerful gusts don't even faze Ae. Her magic shoots from her fingers the dark flaming snakes coil through the air.

_Those won't work again you- _Natsu's cut off as he breathes fire to destroy the snakes. He swoops up to her, trying to hit her with his powerful tail. Lucy runs up his neck and leaps off his head to be caught by Happy.

"You're so _heavy_, Lucy!" Happy complains.

"Shuddup, cat!" Lucy yells. While Ae is distracted, Lucy flies above with Happy and shoots starlight from her hands, getting a direct hit. Ae crashes to the ground with a loud whomph as sand is blown into the air. Lucy, Happy and Natsu land as well, but much more gracefully.

_Roar of the Fire Dragon! _Natsu roars and blows fire at the body. A purple glow appears and Ae stands unharmed.

"I can use protective magic. Dragon, you cannot resume your human form without a spell. I will turn you back if you two will leave me alone," she tries to bargain. Lucy darts behind her and puts her in a headlock while Ae is speaking.

_I don't believe you. _He lights up a fist and sends it at her. It lands successfully. She would fall if not for Lucy still holding her up by her neck. Ae is covered in small scratches from the sand, the back of her skirt is ripped and her shirt is burnt away leaving seared flesh.

Ae grabs at Lucy's arm leaving long scratches in her skin. She chokes out, "You..won't…be able…to change back…without my help!" Her body goes limp and Lucy drops her.

"She's not dead, just defeated and unconscious from lack of oxygen. Why haven't you turned back?"

Natsu shrugs, _Dunno, Luce. How's your arm?_

"It's fine," she responds. Lucy rips another small piece of fabric from her shirt and wraps it.

"Good job, guys. Bye," Loke raises his hand in farewell, seeing that he's no longer of need. A boat traveling at high speeds comes toward them and stops at the beach. Natsu hides in the woods with Happy as the man steps onto the sand.

"Hello, are you Miss Lucy?" The man asks. He's wearing a white, buttoned shirt and dark blue slacks. He gingerly places his shiny black shoes as he walks toward her.

She nods, "Yes, I am. And you are?"

He ignores her question and circles her like a vulture, "Why are you dressed like this? You must have a great deal of power to take down that woman all by yourself. I like powerful and beautiful."

"I've been here for a while training to defeat her. My teammates are also here, but they had some bodily functions to attend to so they're off in the woods. _And you are?" _She answers and then asks again, more forcefully.

"I'm sorry; I haven't been much of a gentleman now have I? I'm Hauro, the person who requested this job. I'm pleased to find that you have successfully disposed of the issue plaguing my property. Where is the rest of your team, I'd like to thank them accordingly as well," Hauro responds. He stops in front of Lucy and licks his lips. She sees the hungry gleam in his eyes and Natsu hasn't missed the way he'd been circling her either.

"They're very rough, I'm sure you would find no pleasure in meeting them. They will gladly accept their portion of the agreed upon 2,000,000 J though."

He grins, "Ok then." He reaches out his hand and touches Lucy's face, tracing her jaw-line and lips. She cringes and stands as stiff as a plank.

"_What are you doing?" _she growls. Please don't reveal yourself, Natsu! She screams in her mind.

"A pretty lady like you wants more than money, am I right?" His grey eyes and dark evergreen hair are fairly attractive, but she'd already felt a stronger pull toward a certain dragon friend. She bites her lip trying not to scream, but Hauro takes it a different way and advances on her, bringing his face close to hers. She hears a roar from behind as Natsu steps out from the cover of the woods. He comes up behind her and draws her close to him with his tail, red scales gleaming. Wings spread wide, he's shadowing the entire section of beach they're on. His black eyes stare at Hauro, trying to burn into his soul for touching Lucy.

Hauro stumbles back and grabs a notebook from his pocket. He scribbles down the numbers and his signature before dropping it on the ground and fleeing for his boat. He and the boat quickly leave the shore leaving only a sparkle in the distance. Happy flies forward and picks up the note. "It's the money! Hurray! Fish for all!" he shouts. Lucy smiles before turning around and slapping Natsu partially playfully, and partially to get her point across although she knows it won't hurt him in the slightest.

"Natsu! You shouldn't have come out! Now there's going to be rumors of a dragon and it'll be harder to hide you!"

_I couldn't let him kiss you._

"Why not, Natsu? Were you jealous?" She asks, smirking.

Natsu snorts, _Pfft, no. You're my nakama and it was obvious you didn't like it so I had to stop him._

"Sure, Natsu. Whatever, let's go home. Maybe Levy-san will be able to fix you." Lucy hops onto Natsu's back and takes the bank note from Happy, tucking it into her boot for safe keeping. She holds on tight and they lift off, flying over the ocean on their way back to Magnolia. They spot a magic police boat going towards the island to arrest Ae. Although the magic police have a similar duty as the magic council in judging and imprisoning criminals, they work side by side with the guilds, even Fairy Tail. Lucy cringes, the scratches on her arm hurt a lot more than she was willing to say. "We'll land in the Eastern Forest. I'll go to the guild and get Master Erza, Levy and Wendy."

_Ok, Luce. Why can't I show the entire guild though?_

"I don't know how they'd react, and it'd be better not to cause panic in the town."

"Aye, and imagine how Gray would laugh at you!" Happy guffaws.

_I'd burn the idiot's head off. _The three land in the woods a safe distance away from civilization. It is close to where Porlyusica, the old medical advisor of the guild lived while she was alive. About five years ago she died of a stroke in her sleep. Now, the abandoned cottage has curling vines around it and lies in disarray. Lucy slides off Natsu and walks in the direction of the guild. The dragon and cat gave her directions. Soon, she arrives at Fairy Tail. Lucy goes inside the boisterous guild and up to Mirajane.

"Hey, Mira. Do you know where I can find Erza, Wendy and Levy-san?" Lucy asks putting her hands on the bar countertop.

Mira thinks while polishing a cup with a white rag, "Erza is up in her room doing something I think, Wendy and Levy are over there," she answers and points to a table in the corner.

"Ok, thanks, Mira. Gotta go now, bye!" Lucy says rushing off. First she goes upstairs to find Erza. She knocks on the closed door.

"What do ya want?" a male voice calls.

"Um, it's Lucy. I need to talk to Erza."

"Sorry, I'm coming!" this time it's Erza's voice that responds. The door opens and Erza looks as serious as ever. "What is it Lucy?"

"We have an issue. It happened while Natsu and I were on our job," Lucy explains. A blue haired man with a red tattoo around his right eye appears behind Erza.

"Hi, I'm Jellal, Erza's husband. Trust me though, if you need romantic advice, don't ask her. We had the strangest relationship up until I joined the guild and we got married," he chuckles.

"It's not that. C'mon Erza," Lucy takes charge, blushing slightly, and grabs Erza's wrist. Erza follows Lucy to the table where Wendy and Levy are sitting. Wendy has waist length, dark blue hair and brown eyes. She wears a sleeveless light blue top that hugs her body and white jeans. "Wendy, I'm Lucy. I've heard that you're a healer. I need you and Levy to come with me."

"Wh-" Wendy starts to protest, but Lucy cuts her off.

"I'll explain in a minute." The three women follow Lucy into the Eastern Forest. As they walk, Lucy informs them about the situation. How Natsu got turned into a dragon. She also tells them that if they're going to understand him, they have to listen closely as he speaks. When they arrive where Lucy left him, Natsu isn't there. She sighs, "Natsu! Come out!"

_Sorry! Got hungry and went to the river to catch some fish! _Comes the growling reply that Lucy is now used to, but makes the others exchange looks. The large red figure appears out of the trees in front of them. Happy is sitting on his head eating a fish.

Wendy's eyes widen, "He really is a dragon!"

_Indeed, Wendy. Fix me already, I kinda like it, but am itching to be a person again. I've been this way for over a week! _He smiles at the end showing his slightly harsh words weren't meant in a mean way. Lucy's quick bandage on her arm falls off and Wendy spots it.

"Um, I'm not sure what to do for you, Natsu, so I'm going to help Lucy first since hers is simple." Wendy holds her hands over the angry, red cuts and a blue glow appears. The cuts heal, not leaving a trace.

"Tell us again how you became a dragon, Natsu," Erza implores as she walks around him, examining him.

Natsu snorts. _I was fighting a dark mage. She had this weird, dark, serpent fire. I ate it. It made me feel bad and then I was in a lot of pain. After that I was a dragon. That's it._

"Maybe if I slice your skin, you're a person underneath?" Erza ponders as she requips a huge sword into her hand.

_Don't you dare Erza. I'm like this, through and through right now. _

"Hmph. You burnt me when I was turned to stone." Natsu shrugs, that was a long time ago. Erza can sure hold a grudge.

"I'll just try to heal him with my magic," Wendy states as she steps forward. Her hands glow blue again and she's super concentrated. She holds up the magic for about five hours. While they're waiting, Levy sits on the ground and thinks. Lucy also sits and just pulls out grass, bored. She thinks it'd be nice to talk to Levy, but she's concentrating on fixing Natsu. Erza went off somewhere to fling her swords around. It feels like forever and then Wendy sighs before letting her hands drop to her sides, "Sorry, Natsu, it should have worked by now." Wendy pats his flank apologetically. Erza comes back at that moment and leans against a tree.

"You ate the fire right?" Levy suddenly asks.

_Yes. It tasted weird like eating a-a burnt snake that slithered through rotten fruit._

"And you get magic power from fire?"

_Um, yes?_ He chuckles and thunks his tail on the ground making it shutter.

"The reason you're still a dragon is the magic is circling in your bloodstream. It's like a parasite; it connected onto your magic, created a link and turned you into this. All you have to do is expel all your magic power for a moment and you should go back to normal," Levy reasons. A look of understanding dawns on Natsu's face and he closes his eyes. The four women and Exceed step away from him, aware of his huge amount of magic energy. A hundred foot pillar of orange fire laced with dark purple sears into the sky and as it disappears, Natsu starts to glow. His form shrinks to that of a human, wings, tail and snout disappearing. They watch red scales fall to the burnt ground. The glowing disappears leaving human Natsu on the ground wearing only his tattered white pants and scarf. Lucy blushes lightly, but quickly hides it. He looks up and grins.

"I'm back!" He shouts and jumps up, fist pumping.

"Good. We couldn't have you ruining the guild," Erza states.

"Yes! It worked! It's good to have you as a person."Wendy runs forward and hugs him before leaving with Erza and Levy.

"Awesome!" Lucy pauses, "Are you going to go back to ignoring me?" she asks cautiously.

"Nah, we're partners and friends," he replies and coming up beside Lucy, puts one of his arms around her shoulders.

She blushes slightly at his touch and is about to say something, but is distracted by the one other thing Natsu is wearing. "What's that?" Lucy asks pointing to his neck. It looks like a crystal, except it has the same flames that he released earlier trapped inside. It's hanging on a simple black cord.

Natsu shrugs, "I don't know." He brings it up to his face and looks closely at it. Getting an idea, he closes his eyes and thinks, "Dragon". He opens his eyes and he's a dragon again. Thinking, "Human" he shrinks back down and grins. "Awesome! I can be a dragon whenever I want now! I'll never have to ride on transportation again!" He cheers. Lucy smiles and the two high-five.

**A/N**

**Please review, follow and/or favorite if you haven't already! :)**

**~Maggie**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**

**Thank you, helpmewoofy11 for reviewing even though you'd already read it. I hope whoever reads this enjoys.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

Lucy groans as she wakes up. There's something soft on her face that tickles her nose when she breathes in. She tries to brush it away and it mumbles, "Fish…" Opening her eyes, Lucy sees the blue fur of the one and only, Happy. She quickly shoves the furry animal off her face, not bothering to be gentle. He opens his eyes blearily. "Wha- Lucy, why'd you wake me up?"

"What are you doing on my face?!" she shouts at the cat. There's a moan from the floor beside her bed alerting Lucy to there being yet another person in her room.

"Sleep more…" comes the voice. Lucy identifies it as Natsu's. There's a shuffling sound on the floor as he repositions himself.

"Get out of my room!" Lucy screams at the two, making Natsu jump up, looking around wildly. The room in the guild is now officially Lucy's since the house she rented was rented to someone else a long time ago and she's been in it for ten years anyway. "What are you doing?!"

"Mm? Luce, I always slept here when we were friends before," he mutters. This makes Lucy pause, always?

"Always?" Lucy's curiosity ruled out her desire to throw the boys out of her room. Happy lazily flies from Lucy's bed to Natsu's head.

"Yeah, Happy and I'd come in your window at night and sleep at your place."

"Nothing ever happened, right?" Lucy asks suddenly worried.

"What woulda happened? We were-we are good friends and nakama," Natsu responds looking slightly puzzled. Lucy sighs, did she not tell Natsu about this? Was it better not to? She smiles at his correction of words though, over the week on their job they did become good friends.

"Nothing, never mind," she says hurriedly. Natsu gives her an odd look and shrugs.

"So what are we doing today, Luce?" Natsu asks changing the subject.

"Well first, _you are getting out of my room_ so I can change and shower." Happy and Natsu sulkily leave before Lucy hurts them. Lucy walks to her bathroom that's joined to her room. She gets into the shower and starts rubbing some vanilla scented shampoo into her hair. More and more memories are coming back and spending the last few days at the guild talking to everyone helped a lot. She remembered about Lisanna in Edolas. During that whole thing, she was brought to a different world where flying cats were the rulers and there was limited magic. She remembered Tenrojima and how Cana finally told Gildarts she was his daughter. It happened really often now, even finding Natsu and Happy in her room had stirred up one; when she had cleaned their house and waited all day for them to return only to go back to her apartment and find them sleeping there. She feels like everything will come back in one rush if a specific thing happens.

Her mind drifts to Natsu. Does he hold the key to the rest of her memories? He was friendly when she woke up and then after realizing she didn't remember him, extremely jerkish. On the island though, on the third day, they woke up and he was nice again.

**-Flash Back-**

'Morning, Luce _Natsu said. Luce? Lucy thought he'd go back to being mean after recovering from the shock of being a dragon. She really hadn't expected him to revert to calling her by her nick-name that he came up with._

"_Uh, 'morning, Natsu. Ready to train?" she asked him._

Yup. How'd you sleep? _Lucy stood up and brushed off her skirt._

"_Good." She got onto his back as they went to hunt for the day. When they found one of the large pigs, Natsu breathed flames on it. Lucy was happily surprised that Natsu had actually "cooked" the meat instead of just charring it like he did the other two times. He let her and Happy go first and then ate. They carried the left-overs back to the cave for later and brought some with them to the beach. While they were training, Natsu accidently cut Lucy's leg with his tail._

_He rushed to her side and said, _I'm sorry, are you ok, Luce?!

_She winced, but nodded and ripped the first strip of material from the bottom of her shirt. "I'm fine. Thanks for worrying." Lucy smiled._

**-End Flash Back-**

Lucy shakes her head. She couldn't have feelings for Natsu, it'd be too complicated. He appeared to have very mixed feelings about her and although was more open, he still eyed her like she would just disappear any moment. Maybe she could go on a date with Loke today. She shuts off the water and just as she's about to get out of the shower, her door opens and a pink haired head peeks in. Lucy quickly covers herself with the shower curtain, blushing.

"You done yet?" he asks.

"No! Get out, Natsu!" Lucy yells at him and throws the shampoo bottle. His eyes widen and he closes the door, allowing the bottle to only collide with wood. After waiting for a few minutes to make sure he is gone, Lucy gets out of the shower and dresses. Downstairs she sits at the bar with Levy, Juvia and Lisanna and orders some breakfast.

"Guys, I woke up with Natsu in my room!" Lucy tells them.

The three women laugh, "Juvia wishes Gray-sama would sleep in her room!"

"He's really affectionate. I'm not surprised that you did, he used to do that before also," Lisanna smiles.

"What did you do?" Levy asks. These three women quickly became Lucy's best friends. Occasionally Juvia refers to her as her "love rival" and Lucy doesn't understand that, but they're still good friends.

"I shouted at him and Happy. Then when I was showering, he opened the door on me! I had to throw a shampoo bottle at his head." She laughs with her friends as Mira puts her breakfast down. Lucy digs into the eggs, hash browns and ham still chatting with her friends. When she's finished, she excuses herself only to be stopped by Natsu.

"Hey, Luce, where are you goin?" he asks her.

"Oh, just out. I'm going to explore Magnolia," Lucy says vaguely.

"I'll come with you!"

"No! I mean, I can do it on my own. Um, don't you have something to do?" Lucy is uncomfortable not telling Natsu what she's really planning to do, but after seeing what he did on the island when that guy was around her she didn't want to tell him.

"C'mon, Luce!" he pleaded.

She sighed in exasperation, "Fine, Natsu! I'm going to explore Magnolia with Loke!" Loke appears next to her grinning. He's wearing his mage clothes, but his hair and glasses are the same as when he's in his spirit get-up.

Natsu gets a peculiar look on his face. "Um, ok. I did have something to do anyway," Natsu says. He's fiddling with the necklace he always wears along with his scarf. Walking away, he shouts, "Oy, ice brain, tin head! I got somethin' to show you guys!" Lucy shakes her head.

"Shall we go, miss?" Loke asked politely.

"Yes, we shall," Lucy giggles hooking her arm through his. They walk down the stone streets looking at vendor's wares and the river for hours. In one shop, Loke buys Lucy a little charm bracelet with all the Zodiac charms. In addition, they purchase twelve little gold key charms to add to it. The mage and spirit visit the library and look at several books. Lucy buys a few to help inspire her novel that she continued writing. After a while, they find a nice little café and sit down out on the patio. They both sip iced tea and look out at the shimmering water of the river. A boat sails past and a man waves at them.

"So what'd you do the entire time I was asleep?" Lucy asks breaking the quiet.

"Well, in the spirit world, one day is three months in this world. It was only forty days in my world so it really wasn't that long. I just hung out with your other spirits. Aires kept saying 'I'm sorry' over and over for a while, but we got her to stop. Capricorn paced a lot. Aquarius was absolutely ecstatic that you didn't call on her for a long time. She got to go on a long-term vacation with Scorpio." He chuckled, "She might even be nice to you for the next couple times you call her."

Lucy laughed too, "Oh yeah, I remember, my friends and I went to a day long party in the spirit world and came back only to find that our training time had completely disappeared!"

The play-boy spirit touches her hand sitting on the table and looks into her eyes, "Lucy, do you like Natsu?" Why'd he have to bring him up? That was the whole point of going out with Loke for the day, to _not_ think about that particular boy. She feels a blush creep into her cheeks and she looks away from his gaze. Unknown to the two mages, a blue cat had been spying on them all day following the instructions of his best friend. When he saw Loke touch Lucy's hand, he flew off to tell Natsu, not waiting for the rest of the conversation.

"Uh, um…I really don't know, Loke. You're great, but I feel like this is more of a friendly date-tour-thing. I don't feel the same way around you as I do Natsu," Lucy says.

"Ah, I thought so. I never stood a chance back then either. Don't worry, Lucy, you'll figure it out I'm sure." Loke pats her hand and withdraws his.

"It's just, he's an idiot, but he's pretty caring and sweet. He's energetic and…sorry. It really has been a wonderful day. Thanks again for the bracelet," she says shifting her wrist so the charms catch the light.

"No problem, Lucy." Loke smiles. Suddenly, there's a roar from somewhere.

"Dragon!" someone yells.

Another voice shouts, "It's coming this way!"

"Aren't they supposed to be extinct?"

"It's probably just some young hooligans pulling a prank!"

Lucy puts her head on the heels of her hands with her elbows on the table and wearily rubs her eyes. "Natsu…" she groans. She leaves some money on the table and grabs Loke's hand, pulling him out of the café.

"What's happening?!" Loke questions Lucy as they run in the direction of the roars.

"Natsu. You know how he got turned into a dragon? He can change whenever he wants now," she explains, but only leaves Loke with more questions. It's not long before they find the road blocked by a massive, winged, red lizard. "Natsu! Quit this now!" Lucy yells to him. Natsu looks down and sees Lucy and Loke. Lucy forgot to let go of Loke's hand and so Natsu just gets more jealous and roars. Lucy rolls her eyes, "At least move somewhere were you're not disturbing the public!"

Natsu rolls his eyes, but bobs his head and jumps into the air, spreading his wings and flying into the woods where he was originally turned back into a person. Lucy and Loke follow, no longer holding hands. On the way, they meet up with Gray, Gajeel, Erza, Levy, Juvia, Lily, Carla and Wendy.

"Juvia wants to know what's happening," says Juvia as she runs.

She's the only mage here who doesn't know about Natsu's ability. Earlier, what Natsu wanted to show Gray and Gajeel was his dragon power. "Natsu," Lucy answers. They make it to the clearing which Natsu has made bigger by knocking down and burning some trees. Happy nervously hovers nearby. When he spots the others, he lands next to them and explains to Carla and Lily about Natsu. Lucy walks forward with her arms crossed over her chest. "Natsu, _what_ are you doing?"

Natsu ignores Lucy and grabs Loke in his huge fist bringing him up in front of his snout. "Hey! Natsu! Whatever you think I did, I didn't!" Loke shouts.

_Keep your hands off Lucy _He growls. Natsu's hot breath blows back Loke's hair and makes him cough, it does not smell pleasant.

"I wasn't doing anything! We were just out as friends, isn't that right, Lucy?"

Lucy supports Loke, "Yup, just friends, Natsu! Don't worry, he wasn't being a pervert!"

Natsu starts squeezing Loke, "Bye, Lucy! I had a great time today! Call me whenever and good luck with your dragon friend!" Loke calls and disappears, closing his Celestial Gate. The others have surrounded Natsu and are all prepared for battle if he attacks. A puff of steam blows out of Natsu's nostrils and he glows, shrinking back down to normal Natsu size.

"Explain yourself, Natsu Dragneel!" Erza demands, while holding a sword to Natsu's neck.

Natsu is still too angry even to be afraid, but he answers, "Personal problem. Nothing big. Fixed it."

"You endangered the citizens of Magnolia, Natsu. You made it impersonal."

He huffed, "Look, no one was hurt, nothing was destroyed, that's all that matters right?"

"Fine, but for punishment, you'll be…" she gets an evil glint in her eyes as she scans over the people with her, "Lucy's slave for a week."

"A week!" he shouts dumbfounded. "That's the longest punishment ever!"

"Well, it won't be that bad, you have Lucy. Would you prefer I give you to Gajeel?" Gajeel smirks thinking of how much fun it would be to have Natsu running round doing chores for him, bringing him food and calling him "master".

"No, no, Erza. A week with Lucy is just fine. I'm sorry. Won't happen again," Natsu quickly amends. Everyone laughs and disperses back to the guild or whatever they were doing before the dragon issue.

Lucy stays and looks at Natsu disapprovingly. "So," Natsu says.

"So."

"Um, sorry about that," he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why'd you do it?'

"I had to protect-"

Lucy cuts him off, "You weren't protecting; you were cutting off a friendly date. I was not at all romantic."

Natsu blushes, "I liked it better when it was only us and Happy on that island."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you're going to be spending a lot of time with me in the next week also because you're my slave," Lucy smirks evilly. "Since it's already late, we'll start tomorrow by going shopping for new clothes!" Natsu groans and follows Lucy back to the guild for dinner and sleep.

**A/N**

**Please follow or favorite if you haven't already. I know there are 26 of you out there who get alerted when I update. PLEASE REVIEW I really, really like getting them :P If we can make it to fifty reviews, I'll write the fiftieth reviewer a Fairy Tail one-shot with a topic and coupling of their choice. Oh, it does not count if someone reviews under "Guest" over and over on one chapter. Thanks, I'm not obsessive at all :P :) **

**PS. I'm not demanding you review, I'm just asking a lot. Thanks :)**

**~Maggie**


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